TO 



William Cullen Bryant. 



AT EIGHTY YEARS 



Friends and Countrymen 



NEW YORK: 

SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO., 

743 AND 745 Broadway. 

1876. 



L*^ 




Class "pS HS5 

Book rP) ^ 







MADi; I'.Y Till ..\\1- \ 



lIWiJITEHOUSiL UEL 



TO 



William Cullen Bryant, 



AT EIGHTY YEARS, 



FROM HIS 



Friends and Countrymen. 






NEW YORK : 

SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO. 

743 AND 745 Broadway. 

1876, 



t-' 



PRESENTATION 



WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, 

June 20th, at 8 P.M., Chickering Hall. 



Music. 



Reception of the Commemorative Vase from the 
Makers by the Committee. 



Music. 



Presentation to Mr. Bryant, with an 
Address by the Chairman. 

Address by Mr. Bryant. 



Music. 



Opportunity for the audience to examine the Vase. 



Mr. George William Warrhn presented his services 
AT THE Organ. 



BRYANT TESTIMONIAL COMMITTEE. 



SAMUEL OSGOOD, Chairman. 
DANIEL HUNTINGTON, HENRY W. BELLOWS, 

JOHN TAYLOR JOHNSTON, HOWARD CROSBY, 
BAYARD TAYLOR, THEODORE ROOSEVELT, 

JOHN BIGELOW, FREDERICK DE PEYSTER, 

WILLIAM H. APPLETON. HENRY C. POTTER, 

ASHER B. DURAND, WILLIAM ADAMS, 

JOSEPH H. CHOATE, A. A. LOW, 

^VILLIAM M. EVARTS, FRANKLIN H. DELANO, 

GEORGE RIPLEY, WILLIAM J. HOPPIN. 

HENRY E. PIERREPONT, J. G. HOLLAND, 

FREDERICK STURGES, JOHN A. WEEKS, 

J. PIERPONT MORGAN, HENRY W. FOOTE, Boston. 

S. J. TILDEN, JAMES T. FIELDS, 

F. A. P. BARNARD, JAMES R. OSGOOD, 

R. S. STORRS, NOAH PORTER, New Haven. 

BENJAMIN H. FIELD, CHAS R. INGERSOLL, " 

EDWIN HARWOOD New Haven. 

JAMES L. CLAGHORN Philadelphia. 

GEORGE W. CHILDS 

JOHN WELSH 

JAMES H. LATROBE Baltimore. 

EDWIN G. EARNED Chicago. 

ROBERT COLLYER 

WM. G. ELIOT St. Louis. 

CARL SCHURZ 

WILLIAM T. SHERMAN Washington. 

HENRY PROBASCO Cincinnati. 

OGDEN HOFFMAN San Francisco. 

GEO. F. hoar Worcester. 

ALEXANDER IT. BULLOCK 

MARK HOPKINS Williamstown. 

J. R. IIAWLEY Hartford. 

GEORGE CABOT WARD, Treasurer. 

WENTWORTII S. BUTLER, Secretary. 



PRESENTATION 

OF 

THE BRYANT VASE. 

JUNE 20TH, 1876. 



OPENING REMARKS OF THE CHAIRMAN. 

" Ladies and Gentlemen : This occasion, that 
calls us together to do honor to our distinguished 
guest, is of a most genial and festive nature, yet 
none the less, on that account, may we regard it as 
having its serious aspects. Surely a life so long 
and so faithful as his, lifts us up by its very presence, 
and I know that it is proof alike of respect for his 
character and for your wishes and your disposition, 
to open these proceedings devoutly. These verses 
are from hymns in which our poet himself serves 
us as our chaplain : 

" Hear this call to our nation to give glory to 
the God of our fathers, and to His beloved Son : 

" ' Oh, North, ^vith all thy vales of green ! 
Oh, South, with all thy palms ! 
From peopled towns and fields between, 
Uplift the voice of psalms. 



6 THE BRYANT VASE. 

Raise, Ancient East ! tlic anthem high. 
And let the youthful West reply. 

" ' Lo ! in the clouds of Heaven appears 

God's well-beloved Son ; 
He brings a train of brighter years; 

His Kingdom is begun ; 
He comes a guilty world to bless 
With mercy, truth, and righteousness.' 

" Again let us follow our poet in his prayer for 
wisdom from above : 

" 'Mighty One, before whose face 
Wisdom had her glorious seat, 
When the orbs that people space 
Sprang to birth beneath thy feet ! 

" ' Source of Truth, whose beams alone 
Light the mighty world of mind ! 
God of Love, who, from thy throne, 
W^atchest over all mankind ! 

" ' Shed on these who, in thy name. 
Teach the way of truth and right, 
Shed that Love's undying flame. 
Shed that Wisdom's guiding light.' 

" Now, Ladies and Gentlemen, with God's bless- 
ing upon us, let us turn to the first business of the 
eveninsf, and receive from the makers the beauti- 
ful work of art which is to be presented to our 
guest. This, indeed, is not the harvest-time of 



THE BRYANT VASE. / 

nature, and the fields are not yet ripe for the sickle 
and the scythe ; but art has all seasons for her own, 
and here a rich fruit is brought to us from her ever- 
teeming fields, by the hands of the producers 
themselves. Honor to the skilled and industrious 
workmen, and let honor go with their hire to fill 
out their just reward. 

'' Mr. Whitehouse and Gentlemen, Artists and 
Workmen, we now look to you to unvail your 
work, and to allow the Bryant Testimonial Com- 
mittee to receive it from your hands for its high 
purpose." 

THE REMARKS OF MR. WHITEHOUSE, THE DE- 
SIGNER OF THE VASE, ON PRESENTING IT TO 
THE COMMITTEE. 

" Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Commit- 
tee : We are here to-night at your request to 
formally make over to you the Testimonial Vase on 
which we have been so long engaged; and the 
house I represent has seen fit to place it in m}^ 
hands for that purpose. 

" Before doing so, I must thank you in the name 
of our firm for having intrusted us with so im- 
portant and interesting a piece of work ; interest- 
ing indeed, for no testimonial piece was ever 
made in this country in which, so far as the silver- 



8 THE BRYANT VASE. 

smith community is concerned, such wide-spread 
interest has been shown. One cause of this was 
the lono- roll of distinofuished names of which the 
Committee is formed ; the other and chief cause was 
the knowledge that it was to be presented to so 
upright and beloved a citizen, to so charming, 
truthful, and distinguished a poet. We are all 
proud of our connection with it, from the hon- 
ored head of our house to the very boy who 
helped to place the silver in the crucible. Every 
stroke of the pencil, every thought, every touch 
of the modeling stick, every blow of the hammer 
has been indeed a work of love. 

" I must also thank you in behalf of the actual 
workers on this vase, who, at your invitation, are 
here to-night. This, to me, is a very pleasing 
feature of the evening's programme, for it is a 
feature too often overlooked. The art-worker in 
silver — the siuccssful art-worker in silver — must 
possess ability of the highest order. He is just as 
much an artist in his particular line as the painter 
or sculptor. He is equally enthusiastic, bringing 
up with the hammer from the dead surface of the 
metal objects of life and inspiration ; day by day 
and week by week his interest growing with his 
work ; going home at night to the equally interested 
and anxious wife, who in her pride and innocence 



THE BRYANT VASE. 9 

thinks the time has come at last, and soon the 
town will ring with the praises of her John. But 
alas, false hopes ! the piece is finished, the presen- 
tation takes place, the work is admired, the giver 
and receiver are both glorified ; but John, poor 
John, he is never even dreamed of, and the wife 
can't understand it ; she thinks there must be 
something wrong. You, gentlemen, have been the 
first in this country to look beyond the surface ; 
you have torn down this vail of seclusion, and 
brought the art-workman and his merit to the 
front. In this particular instance, the silent con- 
sciousness of havinof been enoj-ao^ed on a testimonial 
to the father of our country's poetry, was in itself 
reward enough ; and we thank you, every one of 
us, firm, designer, modeler, maker, and chaser, for 
having given us the opportunity to lay this our one 
small green leaf tribute at his feet. 

" Gentlemen, in the name of Tiffany & Co., I 
make over to you the Bryant Testimonial Vase." 

DR. OSGOOD'S ADDRESS TO THE MAKERS OF THE 
VASE. 

" Mr. Whitehouse and Fellow- Artists and Work- 
men : Your speech is short, but your art is long, 
and this beautiful work of your heads and hands 
speaks louder than any ambitious words, and 



lO THE BRYANT VASE. 

speaks for itself. In the name of the Bryant Testi- 
monial Committee I thank you for your presence 
here to-night, with this masterpiece of your taste 
and skill. The design is apt and original, worthy 
of the subject and the occasion. The work is 
careful and exquisite, and every line and feature is 
proof to all, of what some of us know from obser- 
vation, that heart as well as time has gone into 
your toil, and that you have entered into the spirit 
of this commemorative gift to the patriarch of 
American letters. I thank you each and all ; and I 
thank also your employers, who have done their 
part with such courtesy, enterprise, and public 
spirit. These gentlemen are supposed to under- 
stand their business, as we have here ample proof, 
and we all know that their prosperous house will 
not suffer by their generous execution of the order 
committed to them ; but it is cheering to know 
that they interpret business on so high a plane, and 
carry into it so much of the sentiment of beauty, 
and the heart of patriotism and humanity. 

" This personal acknowledgment is cordial and 
just, but it is not all that it is proper for me to say 
to you now. You have not only done honor to 
yourselves, but to your art — even to the ancient and 
honorable art of the oroldsmith and the silversmith 
— and you have done your part to put it where it 



THE BRYANT VASE. I I 

belongs in the fellowship of useful and beautiful 
arts. All the arts belong together, and it has been 
well said that art is one, while its instruments are 
many. Art is one, and its aim is to give life and 
force to knowledge, and to render into action the 
science which is light. The Spirit of the living 
God who called the Cosmos out of Chaos, and 
who is ever making the many into one, is the 
great Master of Arts, and has given your craft of 
metal-workers especial commission, as when of old 
He called Bezaleel the son of Uri to his service 
and said : ' I have filled him with the spirit of God, 
in wisdom and in understanding, and in knowledge 
and in all manner of workmanship, to devise 
cunning works, to work in gold and in silver, and 
in brass, and in cutting of stones to set them, and 
in carving of timber, to ^vork in all manner of 
workmanship.' Why wonder at the consecration 
of your craft? Why make light of your art, 
which now, as in the time of the old tabernacle 
and temple, can so embody and interpret the 
affections of the household, the loyalty of the 
nation, the wisdom of the schools, and the sancti- 
ties of the altar? How much of the mind and 
heart of mankind has been perpetuated in gold 
and silver and bronze, and precious stones ! From 
the plain gold ring and the christening token to 



12 THE BRYANT VASE. 

the seal of covenants and cup of Communion, 
how your work rises in dignity, and lifts the metals 
of the earth toward the soul of man and the 
image of God ! How much of high history lives 
in metal-work, and how many noble statues of 
sages, prophets, and heroes rise before us to-night 
as we add this memorial work of yours to the 
treasures of art and to the annals of culture ! 

" How nobly your art is ministering now to the 
harmony of nations at our great Centennial jubilee 
of industry and taste, and bringing offerings in brass 
and iron, silver and gold, from all lands to join their 
gifts to yours ! How grand is the conception of 
the monument of Liberty, which France asks to 
place upon an island in our harbor — the colossal 
statue with hand uplifting the torch which throws 
cheer upon the sailor's benighted way, and the 
head crowned with rays that flash light upon the 
dark waters, and inspire hope in all who despair ! 
God guard beautiful France, and secure to her the 
Liberty that she sends now as of old to us ! 

" One thought more and I close this acknowlede- 
ment. Your work is honorable to yourself and 
to your art, and in connection with your presence 
here, it tells upon the future of humanity and the 
progress of civilization. You are here, artists and 
workmen, with }'our wives and children, and your 



THE BRYANT VASE. 1 3 

employers are with you, and we are all one In the 
generous spirit of the occasion. Let this be a 
prophecy of the good future of labor In Its rela- 
tions with skill and capital. Many perplexing 
questions are connected with this subject, and I 
cannot argue them now, nor can I expose the 
fearful mistakes that have so often wrecked labor 
in the name of friendship, and betrayed the work- 
man with a kiss. The age of true co-operation 
must come, and this beautiful work Is one of the 
signs of its promise. A hundred years ago, Adam 
Smith, who had before written of sympathy as the 
ground of moral sentiment, published his ' Wealth of 
Nations,' that great charter of the dignity of labor ; 
and that same year, Benjamin Franklin, who had 
taught workmen sobriety and thrift, signed the 
Declaration of Independence that made us a nation. 
Adam Smith and Benjamin Franklin are In the alr 
here to-night, and they help us in our presentation 
of this vase to William Cullen Bryant, who wears 
their mantle in his purpose and his thought. 

" Let the organ sound the hopes that I cannot 
speak ; and I leave to the organist, who has the 
Bunker Hill blood and name that went through the 
fire of battle, to touch the notes of love and life, 
that mean the peace of nations, the fellowship of 
the arts, and the brotherhood of mankind." 



14 THE BRYANT VASE. 

DR. OSGOOD'S ADDRESS TO MR. BRYANT. 

" We and our children have received many and 
precious gifts from you, Mr. Bryant ; and now we 
bring a gift to you in return, not to cancel, but to 
express our obligation. This piece of silver means 
you and what we owe to you ; and as we now pre- 
sent it, we take the liberty to interpret its signifi- 
cance. 

" This occasion is the sequel and fulfillment of 
our interview with you November 3d, 1874, wdien, 
headed by Mr. Jonathan Sturges, your old and 
devoted friend, whose name now brightens the 
record of our best citizens, noblest patriots, and 
most humane and godly men, we paid our respects 
to you upon the eightieth anniversary of your 
birthday, and announced to you this tribute of 
honor. This work of art has thus a memorial 
meaning, and it recounts the more than fourscore 
years of your life, and makes your age stand for 
the age in which we live. 

" Permit us then first of all to salute in you the 
goodly spirit of the age which you represent, 
and to see the nineteenth, with six years of the 
eighteenth century, looking down upon us from 
your honored head. 

" You came into this troubled world at a signal 



THE BRYANT VASE. 1 5 

period, when mighty forces were in deadly conflict, 
and you have done your work as at once a liberator 
and a peacemaker, an assailant of tyranny and a 
champion of law, a leader of light and liberty, and 
of reverence and faith. When you were born, 
Robespierre and his crew had just fallen under the 
guillotine, and Napoleon was a young adventurer, 
writing of 'life as a flimsy dream soon to be over,' 
and suspected of sympathizing with the destructives. 
He lived to be First Consul, then Emperor, and to 
boast of putting the crown of empire upon the 
head of the Revolution. He has gone, and the 
second and the third Napoleon after him. You 
have lived to assist in putting upon the head of 
Revolution the crown of order, and in our second 
or renewed republic you have made your pen 
mightier than the sword in defense of the op- 
pressed, in the restraint of the proud, in break- 
ing the shackles of the slave, and bringing master 
and servant, rich and poor, under the rule of equal 
law. This medallion of the old-fashioned printing 
press, in connection with this design illustrating 
your career as a journalist, marks well this part of 
your life, and we salute you as representative of the 
Press, the Free Press, now the great power on 
earth, and the greater always as freedom goes 
hand in hand with justice and truth. 



I 6 THE BRYANT VASE. 

" We salute in you this good spirit of the age, 
and we honor your part in its Hterature as well as 
its law. When you came into the world the storm- 
spirits were abroad in letters, and were rising in 
number and power, in spite of the reaction against 
the reign of terror. Byron was a child of six 
years, and Shelley an infant of two, and Coleridge 
and Wordsworth, young men of twenty-four, were 
still in the unrest and frenzy of radicalism, and had 
neither found each other nor the faith and love 
that so exalted them and the new literature which 
they founded. The masters of German literature, 
Goethe and Schiller, were friends and fellow- 
workers, but little known to the great world, and 
with hardly a public to appreciate them in the 
Germany that had been so much under the thought, 
as well as the power, of Frederick the Great. Your 
life belongs to the great record, and you rank with 
the spirits of light and reconciliation that led on 
the Renaissance from the night of bigotry and 
skepticism. You belong to the goodly company 
who with Wordsworth and his fellows opened to 
men the life of nature and the truth of God. It is 
a simple fact for me to say that you began our 
new American literature, and that, although not 
eldest in years, you are eldest in authorship among 
the poets of America. 



THE BRYANT VASE. 1 7 

" This sculptured harp, with its neighbor the 
book decked with the lily, tells well the story of the 
spirit of your school of poetry and letters ; and in 
you we welcome your goodly fellowship of our 
American poets. How great the contrast between 
your rendering of nature and life and that of the 
school of liberalism that went before ! Who can 
withhold admiration from Rousseau, the champion 
of nature against artifice, or refuse to acknowledge 
the ofreat work of liberation that he did ? Yet how 
full of grossness were his pages and his life. What 
relief there is in our liberty to love nature with 
you, and to read no line, which, dying, you might 
wish to blot. 

" We salute you thus as the representative of 
our home literature as well as of the culture of 
the age. Great names had gone before, and' 
the Revolution produced masters of prose speech 
under the lead of Franklin, their chief, and Jeffer- 
son, Madison, Jay, Hamilton, and their associates 
in his company. As we pay our respects to you,, 
the poets and authors whom you have known and 
honored stand with you, and they that have passed 
away speak to us again. Irving, Cooper, Halleck, 
Verplanck, Prescott, and all are here, and the living 
join in honor to the dead. Dana, now on the 
threshold of fourscore and ten years, Longfellow,. 



1 8 THE BRYANT VASE. 

Whittlcr, and Emerson, rich in genius as ripe in 
years, with the brilliant fellowship of younger 
poets, come before us now and win our gratitude 
for their treasures of beauty and wisdom. How 
pure our poets have been in life, and how pure the 
speech which they have set to music for the 
toneiie of the nation ! You, sir, have done more 
than we can say to form our language, and we, 
who have caught pure diction as well as stirring 
thought and winning sentiment from your poems 
in our school days, are glad indeed to set our 
thanks before you in this expressive gift, with its 
lessons from the nature that you have interpreted, 
the country that you have served, and the litera- 
ture that you have formed. 

" One thing let us say, which this vase signifies 
by its Greek severity and by its Gothic lines of 
interlacing branches and upward pointing. This 
means the union of the Greek culture with the 
Hebrew faith, the culture that delights in nature 
and humanity, and the faith that never forgets the 
God over all, never loses the Great First Cause in 
pantheist visions or humanitarian pride. There 
may be more delirium and inebriation in other 
schools of poetry, whether in sensual madness or 
mystical absorption, but we part with our birthright 
when we desert the God of our fathers and set 



THE BRYANT VASE. 1 9 

nature or man on His throne. We congratulate 
you that, in the whole round of your service as 
poet, journalist, historian, jurist, teacher of political 
and social science, you have stood by essential 
ethics, and never deserted the faith. 

" It only remains for me to say that this gift ex- 
presses, also, our respect and affection for you as 
our friend and fellow-citizen. Many offerings, 
great and small, are in this piece of silver, and 
they come from all parts of the country, not with- 
out complaint that more was not called for. We 
who live in and around New York have not been 
behindhand in this tribute, and we enter into this 
presentation with peculiar earnestness. You are 
our neighbor and companion, and for more than 
fifty years you have taken interest in the welfare 
of this city, and helped us in every way. We can 
all join in this deference, whether native or foreign 
born, Knickerbockers or New-Englanders, East- 
ern, Western, Northern, or Southern, for we all 
know you and respect you. You have helped turn 
out the knaves and put honest men into power. 
You stood by the old flag in the great struggle 
when ' God and Our Country ' was the motto, and 
you are standing by it now when ' Honest Men 
and Honest Money ' is the issue of the time. You 
have not shrunk from the duty that now so presses 



20 THE BRYANT VASE. 

upon US — the duty of charity and justice to those 
who have been our enemies ; and you counsel 
conciliation without cowardice, whilst you give the 
same rights that you ask — the right of each State 
to control its own affairs under the Constitution 
that makes the nation supreme in its own sphere. 
Here, too, these sculptures speak the lesson of the 
hour, and speak of you. The cotton and the 
corn here come together, and the bird of peace is 
singing between the two. May the promise be 
fulfilled, and North and South not only hear but 
repeat the same song of loyalty, the same hymn 
of faith and good-will ! 

" You have not lost ground by living with us, 
and you have risen from a young man of thirty to 
a full-grown man, I will not say an old man, of over 
eighty, as hearty and active as ever. You have 
seen the city double its numbers and wealth many 
times, not without some signs of growth in wisdom 
as well as bulk. We have been in some respects 
a little more fast than your advice and example 
taught us to be, but in being generally cheerful 
we have followed your lead, and kept up a brave 
heart through all changes of fortune. We are glad 
to have you with us to cheer us on to the great 
future as we turn the leaf of a new century. You 
still live the life which this vase embodies. You 



THE BRYANT VASE. 21 

Still see and enjoy the charm of nature ; the gen- 
tian, the violet, the primrose, and the apple-blos- 
som delight you as ever ; you hear the hymn of 
the forest and the song of the stars ; the merry 
Robert of Lincoln sings for you his genial glee, 
and the solemn water-fowl preaches faith with 
untiring wing. Your muse, that began with 
' Thanatopsis,' promises to make * Athanasia ' 
her swan song as the lengthening shadows point 
toward morning. 

" Accept this gift, with all its sculptures and 
memorials, the study of many thoughtful hours and 
the trophy of more than a thousand days' work, all 
throbbing with heart-beats, as at once our record 
and our blessing. This exquisite form brings 
beauty from the land of old Homer to join with 
truth and grace from our new America in celebrat- 
ing your birthday. It means more than we can 
say. But we can say, for our country and for 
ourselves, that it means, * God bless you, Mr. 
Bryant.' " 

MR. BRYANT'S ADDRESS. 

" I shall begin what I have to say with thanks, 
and with thanks I shall end it — thanks to my ex- 
cellent friends who have concurred in the presenta- 
tion of this beautiful vase, thanks to the artists by 



2 2 THE BRYANT VASE. 

whom it is designed and executed, thanks to my 
friend the chairman of the Committee for the obho-- 
ing- expressions with which he has accompanied the 
presentation, and thanks to this fair audience for 
the encouragement of their presence. After ex- 
pressing my acknowledgments for the honor done 
me, it woukl be easiest for me to take refuge in 
silence ; but this would hardly become me after the 
kind words addressed to me and the superb gift 
offered to my acceptance. I fear that I might be 
accused of imitating an example of which I remem- 
ber to have read some forty years since. A vol- 
unteer military company in a provincial town of 
England on a time presented their captain with a 
silver pitcher. The non-commissioned officer who 
presented it, approaching his commander, held it out 
to him and said, ' Captain, here's the jug.' To this 
the captain replied, ' Ay, is that the jug ? ' and 
there the speech-making ended, and the company 
were ready for the festivities of the evening. I am 
afraid that a similar condensation of what I have 
to say might be as ridiculous. 

" Mr. Chairman of the Committee, and you, my 
Qfood friends who have done me the honor to be 
here, I would not have you understand that I have 
the great presumption to take the obliging things 
said of me as my due, or this superb gift before me 



THE BRYANT VASE. 23 

as earned by any service which I have rendered in 
any quarter. I wish I deserved it all, but, knowing 
better in my heart, I put a large balance— a very 
large one. — to the credit of your generosity. What 
merit would be yours if I had fairly earned all 
that you are bestowing upon me ? You would be 
simply doing your duty ; you would be paying a 
debt. I should have no thanks to give, and you 
no honor for your benefaction. But consider it 
in the other light : suppose that I receive these 
testimonials of your kindness without having 
earned them, and this proceeding becomes an act 
of munificence, noble, princely, imperial — a muni- 
ficence deserving to be extolled in the choicest 
phrases which language can supply, inasmuch as it 
is like the bounty which showers the genial rain 
and pours the sweet sunshine on the unjust as well 
as the just, and under the influence of benignant 
seasons ripens the harvests of the field for Tweed 
as well as for Dr. Muhlenberg. 

" And now a word concerning the superb vase 
which is before me, the work of artists who are the 
worthy successors of Benvenuto Cellini, and emi- 
nent in their department. It has been greatly 
admired by those who have seen it, and deserves 
their admiration. I remember to have read, I 
think some half a century ago, a definition of the 



24 THE BRYANT VASE. 

term genius — making it to consist in the faculty of 
accomplishing great results by small means — the 
power, in short, which an individual has of over- 
coming difficulties by a forecast and vigor not pos- 
sessed by others, converting obstacles into instru- 
ments of success. This vase I may call a product 
of genius, both in the design and the execution ; 
for who would suppose that any skill of the artist 
could connect with such a subject as he had before 
him images so happily conceived, so full of ex- 
pression, and so well combining expression with 
grace ? My friends, we authors cultivate a short- 
lived reputation ; one generation of us pushes 
another from the stage ; the very language in 
which we write becomes a jargon, and we cease to 
be read ; but a work like this is always beautiful, 
always admired. Age has no power over its 
charm. Hereafter some one may say, 'This beau- 
tiful vase was made in honor of a certain American 
poet, whose name it bears, but whose writings are 
forgotten. It is remarkable that so much pains 
should have been taken to illustrate the life and 
writings of one whose works are so completely 
unknown at the present day.' Thus, gentlemen 
artists, I shall be indebted to you for causing the 
memory of my name to outlast that of my 
writings." 



APPENDIX. 



THE PRESENTATION. 
DESCRIPTION OF THE VASE. 
THE BIRTHDAY VISIT. 
TRIBUTES OF THE PRESS. 



APPENDIX. 



There having been a general desire that the 
proceedings connected with the recent tribute of 
honor to Mr. Bryant should be preserved in per- 
manent and suitable form, they have been collected 
together with the approval of the parties concerned, 
and they are now published with the authority of 
the Executive Committee who had charge of the 
preparation and presentation of the Testimonial. 
This publication is purely a historical record, and 
its aim Is not to express opinions, but simply to 
chronicle facts. The record speaks for Itself, and 
It Is not necessary to prove that the occasion Is 
not only a tribute to one man, but to the whole 
national literature which he represents, and that 
thus these proceedings form an Interesting chapter 
of American history. 

In completing their task, the Committee have 
the satisfaction of reporting to the subscribers that 
after paying five thousand dollars for the Vase, 
according to contract, and meeting all demands for 
incidental expenses, they found in the treasurer's 



28 THE BRYANT VASE. 

hands the sum of one hundred and ninety-nine 
dollars and fifty cents, which they were happy to 
send to the Rev. Dr. Muhlenberg, as a donation 
toward the comprehensive and unsectarian chari- 
ties of St. Luke's Hospital. They take pleasure 
also in the enterprise and public spirit of Messrs. 
Tiffany & Company, who expended on the Vase 
more tiian double the amount of money received 
by them according to contract, and who are content, 
as they have reason to be, with their reward in 
their own professional feeling, and before the 
tribunal of public opinion. Their work will speak 
for them and their art in the years that are to 
come. The Committee have transmitted to Mr. 
Bryant the full title to the Vase, with the simple 
request that when he ceases to have it in charge, 
his heirs may be instructed by him to have it kept 
in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, or a similar 
institution, where posterity may learn in what 
esteem he was held in his own generation. 

The documents which are here added are from 
the journals of the day, and are published in order 
to complete the account. 

Samuel Osgood, 
Joseph H. Choate, 
George Cabot Ward. 



THE BRYANT VASE. 29 

ITS PRESENTATION— ADDRESSES BY DR. OSGOOD, 
MR. WHITEHOUSE, MR. BRYANT, AND OTHERS. 

The Testimonial Vase which was tendered to 
William Cullen Bryant, on his eightieth birthday, 
by a large Committee of prominent persons In this 
and other cities, was formally presented to him at 
Chickering Hall last evening. The hall was filled 
by a remarkably brilliant company of ladles and 
gentlemen, including many of distinction in various 
walks of life. Among the persons present were 
Charles O'Conor, Peter Cooper, A. A. Low, Parke 
Godwin, Daniel Huntington, John Taylor John- 
ston, William H. Appleton, Joseph H. Choate, 
Frederick Sturges, J. Pierpont Morgan, George 
Cabot Ward, Henry W. Bellows, Howard Crosby, 
J. G. Holland, Theodore Roosevelt, F. A. P. Bar- 
nard, William J. Hoppin, the Rev. Dr. Henry C. 
Potter, Henry E. Pierrepont, the Rev. Dr. Men- 
des, Jackson S. Schultz, Bayard Taylor, Comp- 
troller Green, and many others equally well known 
to the public. Letters of regret were received 
from Bishop Potter, General Sherman, Dr. John 
Hall, Carl Schurz, the Rev. Robert Collyer, and 
others. 

" Hail to the Chief " was played upon the organ 
by George William Warren, as Mr. Bryant was 
conducted to the platform by the Rev. Dr. Samuel 
Osgood, and the whole audience rose. Dr. Os- 
good, as Chairman of the Testimonial Commit- 



30 THE BRYANT VASE. 

tee, then made a few remarks in regard to the 
object of the assembly. 

James H. Whitehouse, of Tiffany & Co., next 
presented the Vase to the Committee on behalf of 
the makers. He said that he was proud to hand 
over so fine a piece of workmanship for so noble 
a purpose. He created consideraljle merriment 
by reminding his hearers that the men who really 
did all the labor on a work of art like the Vase, 
seldom or never got any credit for their pains, or 
w^ere seldom even heard of; and in order to make 
an exception to a general rule, he said that the 
men who had done the entire work on the Vase 
were present, and he felt certain they would not 
be overlooked in the general praisegivings. At 
the request of Dr. Osgood, the five workmen who 
were on the stage stood up, and were received 
wath hearty applause. The address of Mr. White- 
house was very appropriate and graceful. 

Dr. Osgood spoke as already reported on 

receivino; the Vase. 

. ... 

After the renderinQ: of some national airs on 

the organ, Dr. Osgood presented the Vase to Mr. 

Bryant in the speech as printed. 

Applause followed, and " See the Conquering 
Hero Comes " was played upon the organ. Mr. 
Bryant then advanced to respond, and was received 
with long-continued applause. 

Mr. Bryant's address was received with loud 
applause. The exercises on the programme were 
then ended by some organ selections, but there 



THE BRYANT VASE. 3 1 

were loud calls from the audience for Joseph H. 
Choate, who was upon the platform. Mr. Choate 
at length said that he did not wish to detain the 
company by any words of his, but he could say 
that the thousand people gathered there repre- 
sented not only all the people of this country, but 
all who spoke and wrote the English tongue, in 
their feelings toward the venerable and distin- 
guished poet. The American people were proud 
of their productions. They were proud of their 
great statesmen and great warriors, but most of all 
of their great poets. The works of American 
authors, of Bryant, of Longfellow, of Whittier, and 
Holmes, were to be found in every drawing-room 
in the British empire, and no one could now ask, 
"Who reads an American book?" He advised 
the persons present to take this opportunity for 
" shaking hands with our honored friend, and 
examining this beautiful Vase." 

A large part of the audience then advanced to 
the platform to congratulate Mr. Bryant and to 
inspect the silver Vase, a full description of which 
has been published. 

It was announced by Dr. Osgood that, with Mr. 
Bryant's permission, the Vase would be taken to 
the Centennial Exhibition. — The Evening Post, 
June 21, 1876. 



32 THE BRYANT VASE. 

DESCRIPTION OF THE VASE. 

{From Harper's Magazine for July, 1876.) 

* * =^ It was thought by the friends of 
William Cullen Bryant in this city that some trib- 
ute of respect was due to him when he reached 
eighty years of age, and the suggestion was made 
by one among them that a commemorative Vase, 
of appropriate original design and choice work- 
manship, would be the best form of the intended 
tribute, especially since Mr. Bryant did not need 
any material aid, and, moreover, the sculptor and 
painter and engraver and publisher had already 
conspicuously paid their respects to him. Our 
leading artists and men of taste were consulted, 
and the plan of a commemorative Vase was ap- 
proved and acted upon. * * * 

As the Vase required much time for its comple- 
tion, no effort was made to have it ready for pres- 
entation then, but immediately afterward effective 
measures were taken to carry out the assurance 
contained in the address by completing the sub- 
scription of five thousand dollars, and securing the 
best design. The field of competition was thrown 
open to the whole craft of silversmiths, and while 
the first attempts showed crudeness and inexperi- 
ence, and not a few persons declared it to be 



THE BRYANT VASE. 33 

impossible for our designers and workmen to make 
a first-class work of ideal and historical art such as 
would be fit for presentation to the patriarch of 
American letters, the final result removed all 
these misgivings, and the fine designs that were 
offered at the closing competition in February, 
1875, put all fears at rest, and proved that our 
silversmiths were up to the best standard of their 
guild, and that, with full preparation and fair notice, 
they can do as good work in their way as is done 
anywhere in the world. All the designs were 
creditable to their authors, and the specimens of 
modeling in wax and of casting and chasing in 
metal-work were interestinof and encouraeine. 
The design of Mr. Whitehouse, of the house of 
Tiffany & Co., was accepted unanimously, alike 
from its beauty and its fitness, while the other 
designs were carefully examined, generously ap- 
preciated, and the public were encouraged to study 
their merits by friendly comments from the Com- 
mittee, and by articles in the newspapers and illus- 
trations in the magazines. Our readers have now 
an opportunity to judge for themselves of the 
merits of the successful design, and the visitors at 
the Centennial Exposition are seeing the work 
itself with their own eyes. 

It is not a very ambitious production, and in its 
3 . 



34 THE BRYANT VASE. 

severity of form and in its careful and exquisite 
details there is a combination of simplicity and 
beauty which belongs to the subject, and which 
ventures upon no point which cannot be thorough- 
ly worked out. This piece of silver means William 
Cullen Bryant, the living father of our literature, 
and it suoj-ofests the America in which he has lived 
and labored and sung. The artist, Mr. James H. 
Whitehouse, well expressed the spirit of his work 
in his remarks before the Committee, when he 
said : " When the Bryant Testimonial was first 
mentioned to me, my thoughts at once flew to the 
country — to the crossing of the boughs of trees, to 
the plants and flowers, and to a general contem- 
plation of Nature ; and these, together with a cer- 
tain Homeric influence, produced in my mind the 
germ of the design — the form of a Greek vase, 
with the most beautiful American flowers growing 
round and entwining themselves gracefully about 
it, each breathing its own particular story as it 
grew." 

Thus it is that the Vase is entirely covered with 
a fret-work formed of apple-branches and their 
blossoms, or a delicate basket-work from the apple- 
tree, which so well expresses Mr. Bryant's poetry 
in its fragant bloom and its wholesome fruit. Be- 
neath this fret-work, and forming' the finer lines of 



THE BRYANT VASE. ^5 

its fret, are the primrose and the amaranth, which 
out of the Hps of their lovehness speak their lessons- 
of inspiration and of immortaHty. The body of the 
Vase, which is thus formed and enriched, bears ex- 
pressive and elaborate medalHons of the poet, and 
of the main aspects of his hfe and works. The most 
prominent of these medalHons is the portrait bust. 
Above his head is the lyre, which represents his 
art, and below is the printing-press in its primitive 
form, which suggests his career of journalism, while 
more prominent still, farther below, is the elaborate 
and beautiful design of the water-fowl, which so 
presents God over Nature in the charming and ex- 
alting poem of that name. On the opposite side of 
the Vase there is a carefully designed and executed 
study of Poetry contemplating Nature — two female 
figures, which balance wisely the somewhat se- 
verely masculine character of the other designs, 
and give their womanly grace to the honor of the 
poet whose life and works so well harmonize in 
respect for woman, and for the home, marriage, 
and reiio-ion that crive her the best defense and 
power. Between these two principal medallions 
there are on each side two groups illustrating 
scenes in the poet's life, making four groups in all. 
The first group presents him in company with his 



36 THE BRYANT VASE. 

father, who points to Homer as a model in poetic 
composition : 

" For he is in his grave who taught my youth 
The art of verse, and in the bud of life 
Offered me to the Muses." 

The next group presents him as the student of 
Nature, such as he appears in " Thanatopsis " or 
" A Forest Hymn " : 

"Stranger, if thou hast learned a truth which needs 
No school of long experience, that the world 
Is full of guilt and misery, and hast seen 
Enough of all its sorrows, crimes, and cares 
To tire thee of it, enter this wild wood 
And view the haunts of Nature." 

The third design illustrates his life as journalist ; 
and the fourth represents him in his good old age 
as translator of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The 
lower part of the bowl bears ornamentation from 
the characteristic products of American agricul- 
ture — cotton and Indian corn. The neck is encir- 
cled with primrose and ivy in token of youth and 
old age, while the " fringed gentian " suggests the 
grave thought from its blue petals : ^ 

" I would that thus, when I shall see 
The hour of death draw near to me, 
Hope, blossoming within my heart, 
May look to heaven as I depart. " 



THE BRYANT VASE. 37 

The famous line, "Truth crushed to earth shall 
rise aeain," is also o-iven here in the form of an 
ornamental border inlaid in gold. The ornament 
at the foot of the bowl is the water-lily, the emblem 
of fluency and eloquence. The handles are richly 
decorated with the fern, the cotton, and Indian 
corn, while the bobolink represents the whole tribe 
of his fellow-singers, and does honor to the poet 
and to his humorous verse on "Robert of Lincoln" 
from his perch. The base bears the lyre and 
broken shackles, w-hich so represent the poet as 
patriot and emancipator. The idea of justice as 
the animating motive of his public career is given 
in the vigorous handlinof of the Rudbeckia flower, 
which is the type of that virtue ; and this idea gains 
power from the book without a name, and which 
from its prominent place can be none other than 
the Book of books. 

Such are the form and features of this memorial 
Vase, and, as in a graceful and spirited man, they 
make one whole, and the various parts indicate the 
dominating spirit, the robe of flower-work, with 
its cincture of medallions, the golden fillet emblaz- 
oned with the name of Truth, the arms that hold 
the emblems of the nation's wealth, the corn and 
water-lilies at the foot, the solid base with the lyre 
and broken chain, the bird, the two typical flow- 



38 THE BRYANT VASE. 

ers, the printing-press and the Bible — all these 
details gather around the life which they express, 
and make this piece of silver a work of ideal and 
historical art. As a whole, the work has a look of 
simplicity, and seems easy of execution, yet the 
process was very laborious and costly ; and a care- 
ful examination of its various stages and methods, 
with the help of the best judges and books, justifies 
the opinion that industrial art in America has taken 
some steps forward by this tribute, and that suc- 
cess in this instance is likely to tell upon the whole 
future of the silversmith's craft among us. * * * 

1794— 1874. 
]\IR. BRYANT'S BIRTHDAY. 

A SIMPLE AXD NATIONAL COMMEMORATION. 

The eightieth anniversary of the birthday of Mr. 
Bryant was the occasion yesterday of a greeting of 
his friends, which partook so much of a public 
character that a simple narrative of some of the 
particulars is due to our readers. 

An informal meeting of a number of gentlemen 
was held in this city a few weeks ago, to consider 
how the creneral desire to commemorate the anni- 
versary might find a suitable expression. At this 



THE BRYANT VASE. 39 

meetino- the suo-aestlon was made that a silver vase 
of original design and choice workmanship, sym- 
bolizing in its sculpture the character of Mr. 
Bryant's life and writings, should be procured by a 
popular subscription, to be ultimately placed in the 
Metropolitan Museum of Art. By the request of 
numerous friends of Mr. Bryant, residing both here 
and elsewhere, the suggestion was also adopted 
that an address should be drawn for their signature, 
to express to him their friendship. 

In pursuance of the first suggestion, a Committee, 
of whom the followinof is a list, were oro^anized to 
execute the project of the commemorative Vase : 
Jonathan Sturges, of New York city, Chairman ; 
Samuel Osgood, Daniel Huntington, John Taylor 
Johnston, William H. Appleton, Asher B. Durand, 
William T. Blodgett, William M. Evarts, George 
Ripley, Frederick A. P. Barnard, William Butler 
Duncan, Benjamin H. Field, Henry W. Bellows, 
Howard Crosby, Theodore Roosevelt, Frederick 
De Peyster, Henry C. Potter, William Adams, and 
Franklin H. Delano, of New York city; Henry E. 
Pierrepont and A. A. Low, of Brooklyn ; John 
Bigelow, of Highland Falls, N. Y.; Bayard Taylor, 
of Penns}'lvania; Edward Everett Hale, of Boston ; 
Edwin Harwood, of New Haven ; James L. Clag- 
horn, of Philadelphia ; James H. Latrobe, of Balti- 



40 THE BRYANT VASE. 

more ; Edwin C. Larned, of Chicago ; William G. 
Eliot, of St. Louis ; Henry Probasco, of Cincinnati ; 
Ogden Hoffman, of San Francisco; Alfred Haven, 
of Portsmouth, N. H.; and George F. Hoar, of 
Worcester, Mass.; George Cabot Ward, of New 
York city. Treasurer ; Wentworth S. Butler, of 
New York city. Secretary. 

In accordance with the second sueofestion, the 
following address was prepared by the Rev. Dr. 
Samuel Osgood, for the signature of Mr. Bryant's 
friends : 

" November 3, 1874. 
" William Cullen Bryant : 

" Honored and Dear Sir : We, your friends 
and fellow-citizens, congratulate you upon complet- 
ing your eightieth year in such vigor of body and 
mind. We give you our heartiest wishes for your 
continued health and happiness, and we inform you 
respectfully of the intention to embody in a com- 
memorative Vase, of original design and choice 
workmanship, the lessons of your literar}' and 
civic career in its relations with our country, whose 
nature, history, liberty, law, and conscience you 
have so illustrated. We believe that such a work 
will be an expressive fact of our coming National 
Centennial, and a permanent treasure of our Met- 
ropolitan Museum of Art. We only add that we 



THE BRYANT VASE. 4 1 

desire that this tribute of gratitude should come 
from your friends throughout the country, without 
distinction of party or section, and that our Ameri- 
can women shall be encouraged to unite in the act, 
since our mothers, wives, and daughters are ready 
to declare their obligation to you for the pure lan- 
guage and sentiment which you have given to the 
homes and the schools of the nation." 

Mr. Bryant was yesterday at work at his edito- 
rial desk in the Evening Post building until noon. 
Between i and 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Mr. Stur- 
ges, with many of his associates in the Committee, 
and other friends, presented to him, at his house in 
Sixteenth Street in this city, a copy of the address, 
bearine several hundreds of sio-natures of names 
illustrious in almost every honorable pursuit in this 
community, and at the same time other copies 
which had up to yesterday morning been returned 
to the Committee with signatures from Chicago, St. 
Louis, Philadelphia, and other centers of American 
population, culture, and enterprise. The proceed- 
ings were all simple and informal. Mr. Bryant was 
accompanied by his daughters — Mrs. Parke God- 
win and Miss Julia Bryant — and among the gentle- 
men in company with Mr. Sturges were the Rev- 
Drs. William Adams, Henry W. Bellows, Howard 
Crosby, and Samuel Osgood ; Mr. Daniel Hunting- 



42 THE BRYANT VASE. 

ton, Mr. Samuel J. Tilden, Mr. A. A. Low, Mr. 
Benjamin H. Field, Mr. Frederick De Peyster, Mr. 
George Cabot Ward, Mr. John H. Gourlie, Mr. 
Albert G. Browne, Jr., Professor Van Amringe, of 
Columbia College, Mr. Wentworth S. Butler, and 
Mr. Gilbert L. Beeckman. In delivering to Mr. 
Bryant the copy of the address, Mr. Sturges said : 
" We have come, dear Mr. Bryant, to congratu- 
late you upon reaching the ripe age of eighty years 
in such vigor of health and intellect ; to thank you 
for all the good work that you have done for your 
country and for mankind ; and to give you our 
best wishes for your happiness. For more than 
sixty years you have been an author, and from your 
first publication to your last you have given to us 
and our children the best thought and sentiment in 
the purest language of the English-speaking race. 
For more than fifty years you have been a journal- 
ist, and advocated the duties as well as the rights 
of men, with all the genuine freedom, without any 
of the license, of our age, in an editorial wisdom 
that has been a blessing to our daughters as well 
as our sons. You have been a good citizen and 
true patriot, ready to bear your testimony to the 
worth of }'our great literary contemporaries, and 
steadfast from first to last in your loyalty to the 
liberty and order of the nation. You have stood 



THE BRYANT VASE. 43 

.Up manfull}' for the justice and humanity that are the 
hope of mankind and the commandment of God. 
We thank you for ourselves, for our children, for 
our country, and for our race, and we commend you 
to the providence and grace of Him who has 
always been with you, and who will be with you 
to the end. 

" We present to you this address of congratula- 
tion, with signatures from all parts of the country, 
and with the proposal of a work of commemora- 
tive art that shall be sculptured with ideas and im- 
ages from your poems, and be full of the grateful 
remembrances and affections of the friends who 
love you as a friend, and the nation that honors 
you as the patriarch of our literature." 

Mr. Bryant then made the following brief and 
evidently unpremeditated reply : 

" Mr. Sturges and Gentlemen : I thank you 
for the kind words referring to me in the address 
which has just been read, and am glad that you 
find it possible to speak of what I have done with 
so much indulgence. I have lived long, as it may 
seem to most people, however short the term ap- 
pears to me when I look back upon it. In that 
period have occurred various most important 
changes, both political and social, and on the whole 
I am rejoiced to say that they have, as I think, im- 



44 THE BRYANT VASE. 

proved the condition of mankind. The people 
of civiHzed countries have become more enhght- 
ened and enjoy a greater degree of freedom. They 
have become especially more humane and sympa- 
thetic, more disposed to alleviate each others' suf- 
ferings. This is the age of charity. In our day 
charity has taken forms unknown to former ages, 
and occupied itself with the cure of evils which 
former orenerations nes^lected. 

" I remember the time when Bonaparte filled the 
post of First Consul in the French Republic — for 
I began early to read the newspapers. I saw how 
that republic grew into an empire ; how that em- 
pire enlarged itself by successive conquests on all 
sides, and how the mighty mass, collapsing by its 
own w^eio'ht, fell into frao^ments. I have seen from 
that time to this change after change take place, 
and the result of them all, as it seems to me, is 
that the liberties and riMits of the humbler classes 
have been more and more regarded, both in fram- 
ing and executing the laws. For the greater part of 
my own eighty years it seemed to me, and I think 
it seemed to all, that the extinction of slavery was 
an event to be accomplished by a remote posterity. 
But all this time its end was approaching, and sud- 
denly it sank into a bloody grave. The union of 
the Italian principalities under one head, and the 



THE BRYANT VASE. 46 

breaking up of that anomaly in politics, the posses- 
sion of political power by a priesthood, seemed, 
during the greater part of the fourscore years of 
which I have spoken, an event belonging to a dis- 
tant and uncertain future, yet was it drawing near 
by steps not apparent to the common eyes, and it 
came in our own day. The people of Italy willed 
it, and the people were obeyed. 

" There is yet a time which good men earnestly 
hope and pray for — the day when the populations 
of the civilized world shall prepare for a universal 
peace by disbanding the enormous armies which 
they keep in camps and garrisons, and sending their 
soldiery back to the fields and workshops from 
which, if the people were wise, their sovereigns 
never should have withdrawn them. Let us hope 
that this will be one of the next great changes. 

" Gendemen, again I thank you for your kind- 
ness. I have little to be proud of, but when I look 
round upon those whom this occasion has brought 
together, I confess that I am proud of my friends." 

While Mr. Bryant was speaking, the following 
teleofram was received from Governor Dix : 

"Albany, November 3, 1874. 
" To William Cullcn Bryant : 

"I unite with your friends in the city of New York in cor- 
dial congratulations on this anniversary of your birth. 

"John A. Dix." 



46 THE BRYANT VASE. 

It is impossible to give but a small part of the 
names of the signers of the address, but the follow- 
ing hasty and imperfect selection will indicate the 
general, spontaneous, and cordial character of their 
token of respect, esteem, and friendship : 

Neiv Fork City : Benjamin G. Arnold, George S. Appleton, 
Charles Butler, James Brown, William A. Butler, D. W. Bishop, 
O. B. Bunce, P. T. Barnum, Julius Bing, Robert Carter, J. D. 
Champlin, George S. Coe, C. E. Detmold, Bowie Dash, W. J. 
Easton, Cortlandt de P. Field, Alfred H. Guernsey, Thomas 
Hillhouse, Roswell D. Hitchcock, Rossiter Johnson, William 
W. Kip, Richard A. McCurdy, Robert IMorris, L. P. Morton, 
W. N. McVickar, R. Heber Newton, George Opdyke, William 
Orton, Richard Patrick, O. H. Palmer, Charles A. Peabody, T. 
M. Peters, George Ripley, John Cotton Smith, Joseph Seligman, 
Isaac Sherman, W. T. G. Shedd, Philip Schaff, C. C. Tiffany, 
Hugh Miller Thompson, Sinclair Tousey, W. M. Vermilyc, 
Frederick S. Winston, George D. Wildes, John E. Williams, 
James Grant Wilson, Edward A. Washburn, E. L. Youmans, 

Brooklyn : F. R. Schroeder, H. B. Claflin, E. H. R.Lyman, 
Demas Barnes, P. C. Cornell, Alden Wattles, Charles P. Cha- 
pin, C. T. Christcnscn, Josiah O. Low, James A. Briggs. 

Si. Louis: General William T. Sherman, and General Whipple, 
and Colonels Audenried and Tourtellotte, of his staff; Wayman 
Crow^, John R. Shepley, James E. Yeatman, S. T. Glover, 
Henry Hitchcock, Henry Pomeroy. 

Chicago : Lyman Trumbull, Robert Collyer, David Swing, 
Horace White, W. E. Doggett, Charles Hitchcock, Charles A. 
Dupee, W. B. Ogden, Wirt Dexter, F. B. Peabody. 

Philadelphia: A. J. Drexel, J. B. Lippincott, George W. 
Childs. 



THE BRYANT VASE. 47 

Worcester (Mass.): Alexander H. Bullock, Joseph Sargent, 
T. L. Nelson, George W. Richardson, Henry Chapin, W. W. 
Rice, E. B. Stoddard, Adin Thayer. 

Williamsiown (Mass.): Mark Hopkins, P. A. Chadbourne, 
Joseph White, Arthur L. Perry, Sanborn Tenney, Henry L. 
Sabin. 

Providence (R. I.) : Seth Padleford, Bishop Thomas I\I. 
Clark. 

Hartford (Conn.) : Joseph R. Hawley. 

Nav Haven (Conn.) : Charles R. Ingersoll, Noah Porter. 

Stamford (Conn.) : C. S. Henry. 

Catstdll (N. Y.) : Samuel M. Cornell. 

Rye (N. Y.) : R. R. Anthony. 

Garden City (N. Y.) : John E. Irwin. 

FlusJiing (N. Y.) : F. Elliman. 

Troy (N. Y.) : D. L. Boardman. 

Bergen (N. J. ) : George Z. Gray, Thomas B. Bickwell. 

Kavarti (N. J.) : E. C. Benedict, S. W. Corwin, S. H. John- 
son. 

Montclair (N. J.) : J. Romeyn Bury, jr., George H. Ripley. 

Orange (N. J.) : Charles A. Meguire, J. INI. INIeredith. 

Roselle (N. J.) : M. R. Hibbard. 

Milburn (N. J.): J. R. Hopkins. 

Netv BriinsivicJi (N. J. ) : Oscar Johnson, jr. 

Morristoivn (N. J.) : John D. Stewart. 

Ptainfield (N. J.) : Frederick E. Busby, R. B. Brown. 

Tenafly (N. J.) : George F. Lyman. 

Minnesota : Bishop H. B. Whipple. 

Dacotah : Bishop William H. Hare. 

Viemta (Austria) : John Jay. 

The Committee received letters from Mr. John 
Taylor Johnston and Rev. Dr. H. C. Potter, of 



48 THE BRYANT VASE. 

their number, regretting their unavoidable absence 
on the occ 
Dr. Potter 



on the occasion. The following is the letter of 



"Grace Church Rectory,") 
Monday Evening. ) 

" Dear Sir : I am heartily sorry that to-morrow is the last 
day of the session of our General Convention, and that my 
engagements as Secretary of the House of Bishops will require 
my incessant attention throughout the day, 

"I cannot, therefore, accompany the Committee who are to 
wait upon Mr. Bryant, but my sympathies will follow them 
on their most appropriate and becoming errand, and I shall 
account it a kindness if you will convey to ]\Ir. Bryant my con- 
gratulations and the expression of my unfeigned regret that I 
am prevented from tendering them in person. 

" Very faithfully yours, 

"H. C. POTTER. 

"Jonathan Sturges, Esq." 

A number of poems addressed to Mr. Bryant 
were also received by the Committee ; among them 
the two following, the first from Mr. Charles K. 
Tuckerman, now in London, England, and the sec- 
ond from Rev. Dr. Horatio N. Powers, of Chicao;-o : 



c> 



TO WILLI AIM CULLEN BRYANT, 

ON THE eightieth ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTHDAY. 

A Tribute from an Anicrican Abroad. 

The silver wheels of thy melodious years 
Have rolled thee to the laurel post again : 



THE BRYANT VASE. 49 

Again our eager hands renew the crown ; 

Again our mingHng voices utter thanks. 

We thank thee for the plenitude of fame 

Which riseth o'er the landscape of thy life 

Like the New England pine, serenely strong, 

Filling the autumn air with scent of balm. 

We thank thee for the good thou hast conferred 

At times when Poets' thoughts are best for man. 

Speeding the idle hour with swift delight, 

Soothing the sorrowing hour with calm of peace. 

We thank thee in their names, the weary ones. 

When, lying sleepless with solicitude. 

They have bethought them of thy melody — 

Those unaffected, simply-flowing strains, 

So clear in their conception, yet so vast 

In comprehensive wisdom — and have risen 

And sought the book, and with thee moved awhile 

Over the meadows and by running streams 

And under fragrant boughs of singing trees, 

Till, lost, like children, in the sylvan scene. 

They've closed the page and dreamed they had no cares. 

Thy walk has ever been towards heaven, Great Heart ! 
And when thou goest in, methinks the sound 
Of upper voices will accord with thine 
As if a missing tone were found again. 
Even in thy youth, alone and undismayed. 
Fair Nature found thee on her mountain heights 
Singing the songs of freedom : or in groves — 
Those consecrated temples of thy choice — 
Chanting the unpremeditated prayer 
Born of poetic faith and reverend love. 
Not thine the dusty-footed pilgrimage 
4 



5o THE BRYANT VASE. 

In quest of inspiration ; no far clime 

Lends thee its book of beauty ; but at home, 

In the warm midst of its familiar scenes, 

Thy harp-strings sing the sweetest. All around 

The forms of recognition welcome thee : 

The laughing rivulet, with morning light, 

" Comes singing down the narrow glen " to thee ; 

The water-fowl, "lone wandering but not lost," 

Sees thee and feels no fear : at thy approach 

The timorous squirrel, busy with its nut. 

Sits undisturbed : "The century-living crow " 

Caws at thy coming — thou, whose flight of fame 

Shall far outdistance all his length of years — 

And to thy listening ear the evening wind, 

With " strange deep harmonies " reveals itself. 

These shall thy mourners be when thou art gone, 

These, and the hearts of wild flowers and of waves, 

These, and the hearts of sunbeams and of stars. 

For these dost thou interpret unto man : 

Drawing him closer to the throbbing breast 

Of purifying Nature. 

Not in vain 
Doth her beneficent wisdom lengthen out 
Thy days of ministration, for thy days 
Are verses of the everlasting hymn 
She teacheth ever to the hearts of those 
Who, " to the beautiful order of her works 
Conform," like thee, " the order of their lives." 

London, October, 1874. C. K. T. 



THE BRYANT VASE. 5 1 



TO WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT, 

ON THE EIGHTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF HIS BIRTHDAY, 
NOVEMBER 3, 1874, 

The sweetest blossoms any bring 
To-day, to deck thy muse's throne, 

Are those that out of pure hearts spring. 
From seed thy fruitful life has sown. 

How deep thy living thoughts struck down 
In countless souls throughout the land ! 

The splendid flowers of thy renown 
In myriad leaves of light expand. 

They bloom in virtues strong and true, 
In deeds that make our kinship sweet. 

Chaste homes, and lives of spotless hue, 
In love that serves with tireless feet ; 

In patriot zeal, in Honor's breast ; 

Where Duty runs without debate ; 
Where Nature feasts her reverent guest. 

And Faith waits calmly "at the gate." 

These garlands of the spirit live. 
While festal splendors pass away — 

Millions their fadeless tribute give 
To thee, O wondrous seer ! to-day. 

Thanks for thy pure, majestic song, 
Thy golden years o'er measured span, 

Thy valiant will to smite the wrong. 
Thy vast unconquered love of man. 



52 THE BRYANT VASE. 

Thanks for thy simple faith and truth ; 

Thanks for thy wisdom, deep and calm, 
The freshness of thy generous youth. 

Thy life — a sweet triumphant psalm ! 

Earth's children catch its strain sublime, 

As ages onward bear thy name. 
And down the glowing fields of time 

The wise and good reflect thy fame ! 
Chicago, 1874. Horatio N, Powers. 

Mr. Bryant was in his place as Vice-President 
of the Historical Society last evening. At the 
close of the meeting, after the reading of the inter- 
esting paper upon Historical Portraits in Paris, by 
Mr. William J. Hoppin, Mr. James W. Beekman 
moved a resolution of thanks to Mr. Bryant for the 
honor of his presence, and of congratulation to 
him upon reaching eighty years of age that day, 
and the whole audience accepted the resolution 
with acclamation and by rising. 

At Chicago, last evening, the anniversary was 
celebrated by a " Bryant Testimonial Dinner" of 
the Chicago Literary Club. — Eveniiig Post, Novem- 
ber 4, 1874. 

TRIBUTES OF THE PRESS. 

The following are some of the grateful tributes 
of the American press on the occasion : 

[New York Times, November 4.] 
It is pleasant to turn from the din of the elections to an in- 
teresting social incident, which we record with greater pleasure 



THE BRYANT VASE. 53 

than Democratic victories. Yesterday Mr. William Cullen 
Bryant completed his eightieth year, and received from the 
members of the Century Club a congratulatory . address, ex- 
pressive of the esteem and affection with which he is regarded. 
Nor are these sentiments confined to the members of the club ; 
they are shared by the general public, which has long been 
familiar with Mr. Bryant's honorable services to the literature 
of the country. A life more useful and industrious, or more 
blameless, has seldom been spent among us, and we hope that 
the day is still distant when it will be brought to a close. Such 
greetings as those which Mr. Bryant received yesterday are 
worth far more to a man than all the wealth and official honors 
in the world. 

[New York Sun, November 3.] 

Mr. William Cullen Bryant, now the most eminent citizen 
of this State, is eighty years ol'd to-day, and, we are happy to 
say, is perfectly vigorous and active in mind and body. May he 
still be continued "waiting at the gate " among us for many 
years to come. 

[New York Tribune, November 4] 

Yesterday will be a memorable date in this country for a 
better reason than can be found in the defeat or success of 
any transitory political organization ; for on that day William 
Cullen Bryant completed his eightieth year. In the joy with 
which his fellow-citizens contemplate the advance of his serene 
and glorious age, there is no tinge of sadness. No one who 
sees the hale poet in his daily walks ever looks forward to the 
day when his grand career will be ended. We are forced to 
disobey the precept of the Greek sage and call this life a happy 
one before it closes. There are no chances readily discernible, 
even to the eye of fancy, which can dim the tranquil beauty of 
the long and rosy evening promised to this great poet and 



54 THE BRYANT VASE. 

good citizen. His birthdays are kept as holidays in the hearts 
of all who know him, and every succeeding one grows dearer 
and more sacred. 

[New York Herald, November 4.] 

William Cullcn Bryant, the most venerable and honored 
member of the editorial profession in this country, the first of 
our poets, the model of every public and every private virtue, 
completed his eightieth year yesterday. We join our congratu- 
lations with those of his other admirers on an occasion of so 
much interest. Mr. Bryant has outlived Cooper, our first 
novelist ; he has outlived Irving, our greatest master of elegant 
prose ; he has outlived Jackson, Clay, Calhoun, Webster, the 
most gifted statesmen who were conspicuous in the active 
period of his life ; he has outlived Bennett, and Greeley, and 
Noah, and Crosswell, and Ritchie, and Gales (but not Blair, 
who still lives at an age as advanced and with facilities as 
vigorous as Mr. Bryant's, nor Weed, who is nearly as old); 
but if several of Mr. Bryant's distinguished journalistic contem- 
poraries, who were so potent and so vigorous in the days of 
his prime, still survive, he is the only one of them who retains 
an active connection with journalism. Mr. Blair dissolved his 
editorial relation to the Globe nearly thirty years ago, and re- 
tired to Silver Spring. It is some thirteen or fourteen years 
since Mr. Weed retired from the Albany /<?Mr«(?/ and Mr. Webb 
from the Courier and Enquirer, so that INIr. Bryant is the oldest 
editor in the United States who retains his connection with 
the press. We tender him our sincere congratulations on this 
anniversary, and recognize him as the most distinguished mem- 
ber of the editorial profession in the United States. ]\Ir. 
Bryant's reputation is less ephemeral than if it rested on his 
services as a journalist. His is one of the most important 
names in American literature, as well ns in American jour- 



THE BRYANT VASE. 55 

nalism, and the tasteful compliment paid him yesterday, in the 
presentation of a costly and appropriately engraved vase, was a 
tribute to his literary eminence, the only character in which he 
will be much known to posterity. His vigorous editorials in 
the Evening Post for so many years merely influenced the pass- 
ing opinions of the day ; but his best poems will be read and 
loved long after the transient politics of Mr. Bryant's time are 
forgotten. In celebrating his eightieth birthday we recognize 
the superior luster of purely literary merits ; but if Mr. Bryant 
himself were to pronounce on his own career we have little 
doubt that he would give the preference to his patriotic attempts 
to serve the country as a journalist. 

[New York Graphic, November 2.] 
To-morrow, the eightieth birthday of William Cullen Bryant 
will be remembered by his numerous friends in a manner at 
once unique and creditable. They have contributed some 
five thousand dollars for a vase of original design and choice 
workmanship, artistically representing the lessons of his career, 
in its literar>-, political, and journalistic relations, and the vase 
will be placed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The 
money has been contributed by gentlemen in other cities as well 
as our own, and the testimonial will be the spontaneous expres- 
sion of public respect and veneration for our oldest living poet. 
Charles Sprague is his senior by several years, but Sprague has 
written comparatively little, and has scarcely more than a local 
fame. Whittier is thought of as one of our oldest poets, but 
he was born in the same year as Longfellow, and both were 
mere schoolboys when " Thanatopsis " was written. Greeley 
was Bryant's junior by seventeen years, and was a printer on 
the paper after Mr. Bryant became editor. He was born during 
the administration of Washington, and his life covers all the 
literature of the country that anybody cares to remember. His 



56 THE BRYANT VASE. 

own works arc among the best productions of the American 
mind, and whatever he may think of ' ' Thanatopsis " — which 
was written in his nineteenth year — it is one of the few Ameri- 
can poems that the people will never let die. 

Mr. Bryant has been connected with New York journalism 
for half a century, first as editor of the New York Revinv, and 
next as editor of the Evenmg Post. Of his signal ability, in- 
dustry, and other journalistic qualities, it is needless to remark. 
They are well known, and have gained for him the respect of 
the country. His paper early won a high place for its literary 
merit, its sound judgment on financial questions, its courtesy 
towards opponents, and its high moral tone. Mr. Bryant 
early became a champion of the free-trade policy. His 
paper represented the best Democratic sentiment of the city 
for a long period of years, and only broke with that party to 
support the Republicans in the conduct of the war. And 
though he has written little for it of late years, the character 
he gave it and the honorable traditions affixed to its name by 
his conduct, give it an influence far out of proportion to its in- 
tellectual weight or circulation. It is one of the institutions of 
New York, and the new building, now in process of erection, 
will stand as a fitting monument of his industrious and honor- 
able career. It is a pity that a niche is not reserved in its walls 
for his statue, as his name will be identified with the paper while 
it is published. But Mr. Bryant has been more than a journalist. 
He has taken an active part in the movements of the day, and 
most important charities of the city. His life has been pure, 
and his influence high-toned and honorable. His character is 
a precious possession, and his life teaches a lesson of temperance 
and virtue. 

[ The Indcpc>id€>it.\ 

Sir Walter Scott relates that, when some one was mentioned 
as a "fine old man" to Dean Swift, he exclaimed with violence 



THE BRYANT VASE. 5/ 

that there was no such thing. "If the man you speak of had 
either a mind or a body worth a farthing they would have worn 
him out long ago." Voltaire, Goethe, Lyndhurst, Brougham, 
Beranger, Humboldt, Palmerston, Guizot, Moltke, and among 
Americans, Adams, Taney, Winfield Scott, Horace Binney, 
Richard H. Dana, may be cited in refutation of this theory, 
which, we presume, has nothing to do with thews or stature. 
But if we wanted another bright and brilliant example of facul- 
ties, and faculties of a high order, remaining unimpaired in 
mind and body till long past the grand climacteric, we might 
name William Cullen Bryant, the patriarch of American poetry, 
who, on Tuesday, November 3, completed his " fourscore years, " 
cheerful and happy and full of conversation, and continuing 
to heartily enjoy what Dr. Johnson happily calls "the sunshine 
of life." 

No name in our contemporaneous literature, either in England 
or in America, is crowned with more successful honors than that 
of William Cullen Bryant, Born at a period when our colonial 
literature, like our people, was but recently under the dominion 
of Great Britain, he has lived to see that literature expand from 
its infancy and take a proud place in the republic of letters, and 
survived to see the Republic itself, starting from its revolutionary 
birth, spring up to a giant power, after passing triumphantly 
through a giant rebellion. Surrounded by such historical and 
heroic associations, men who survive them embody in their lives 
the annals of a people, and represent in their individuality the 
history of a nation. 

What INIacaulay said of Charles, Earl Grey— alluding to his 
having survived all the great statesmen contemporaneous with 
him — might with equal propriety be applied to Biyant and his 
contemporaries : " He is the sole surviving link of an age which 
has passed away." Bryant saw Cooper, in the full glory of his 
renown, lead the host of historic names in our national literature, 



58 THE BRYANT VASE. 

and then followed in succession to an honored tomb by Irving, 
Prescott, Paulding, Halleck, Simms, and Kennedy. The orator 
on the occasion of the funeral honors paid to the pioneer of 
American novelists, Mr. Bryant, was associated in the perform- 
ance of those rites with the renowned Webster, and the hall 
which had resounded with applause to the eloquence of Kossuth 
and to the matchless melodies of Jenny Lind, re-echoed the 
brilliant poetic periods of Bryant in commemoration of his con- 
temporary and friend, Fenimore Cooper. 

Pursuing to the age of fourscore an active literary career, the 
poet has been a co-laborer in all worthy movements to promote 
the advancement of the arts and literature. A liberal patron of 
art himself, he has always been the eloquent advocate of the 
claims of artists. Mr. Bryant, on its completion, a few years 
ago, delivered the address inaugurating the beautiful temple to 
art of the New York Academy of Design. Foremost in the lit- 
erary circle of his adopted city, he is President of the Century 
Club — a time-honored institution of New York — numbering 
among the poet's predecessors Gulian C. Verplanck and George 
Bancroft, and embracing among its members men of letters, 
artists, and leading gentlemen of the liberal professions. Philan- 
thropic in his nature, Mr. Bryant has been the consistent pro- 
moter of all objects having for their tendency the elevation and 
furtherance of the interests of humanity. Connected with one 
of the leading metropolitan journals, and one of the oldest in the 
United States, he is enabled to bring the powerful influence of 
the press to bear, with his own personal influence and literary 
renown, upon whatever measure he supports in the cause of 
philanthropy, letters, and the promotion of arts. 



Some men seem gifted of Nature with the very purple bloom 
of immortality — in their youth old and wise beyond their years, 
and retaining in their age the warm Arc and young vigor of early 



THE BRYANT VASE. Sq 

manhood. Their boyhood anticipates the wisdom of years, and 
their years retain the freshness of youth. "I have often won- 
dered," said Benjamin Franklin, in his address on the last day 
of the convention which framed our Constitution, "whether 
yonder picture on the wall represents the rising or the setting 
sun." And, had we not the calendar of his years to inform us, 
we should have been in doubt whether the "Thanatopsis " 
might not be the meditation of William Cullen Bryant's age and 
the Homeric translations the work of his vigorous youth. Poets 
make age the climax of hopeless evil. Gray saw before the 
heedless schoolboy sickness, poverty, famine, and worst and last 
of all, "slow, consuming age ; " and Milton, in his last years, 
hunted and dishonored, knew but one thing more pitiful : 

"Blind among enemies, O worse than chains, 
Dungeon, or beggary, or decrepit age ! " 

But by some strange favor of Heaven we see now and then a 
son of the gods who in his cradle has the strength to strangle 
serpents, and whose unconsuming years seem to feed on the 
ambrosia of perpetual youth. 

On our first page we have given, through our contributors, our 
good hail on his eightieth birthday to the still youthful veteran 
poet and journalist of America. Here we need say little more 
than to tender to him most heartily our own congratulations 
and those of all our readers, and to tell him how warmly his 
countrymen respect and love him. 

Much as we admire the poet whose verse made him many 
years ago the first of our bards, we would mention it as his espe- 
cial honor that he has not been satisfied with beauty or senti- 
ment, but has, like England's blind poet, made himself a man 
of affairs, and has been a wise counsellor in the conduct of the 
State. If he has been known for sixty-two years as a poet, he 
has been an editor for forty-nine years, and his first published 



6o THE BRYANT VASE. 

political paper was written sixty-seven years ago. Other poets 
have not forgotten that they were citizens. Longfellow for a 
year or two sang songs of freedom, asking — 

" What holy angel 



Brings the slave this glad evangel ? " 

and Whitticr, most like Bryant, was for many years an editor 
and active philanthropist ; but in the case of no other of our 
writers have poetry and politics held the scale in such even 
balance. The first political paper of his, "The Embargo," a 
satire in verse, was the prophecy of his life. The Evening Post, 
the wisest and soundest of all our newspapers, the most influen- 
tial certainly of our afternoon press, has long been edited by 
William Cullen Bryant, with whom Iliads, and Congresses, and 
reconstructions, and impeachments, and Odysseys, seem to be 
objects of impartial interest. For this we especially admire him 
— for that completeness of taste and culture, too rare in America, 
which unites a care for the public weal with a love for letters and 
learning. Were our men of culture generally to take IMilton 
and Bryant as their examples, we should have less reason to 
complain of the corruption of public life. 

Personally, jMr, Bryant is known to the American people as 
a poet. As a poet his monument will ever be their affectionate 
respect. Nothing more can a poet ask. But a journalist is a 
man without personality. His identity is swallowed up in his 
paper. As a journalist, Mr. Bryant's fitting memorial will be 
that more material but less substantial one, the fine building on 
Broadway erecting for the Evening Post. Waiting and hoping 
for the time when our own journal shall be similarly provided 
for, we heartily congratulate both the excellent veteran paper 
and the excellent veteran editor on this proof of wise manage- 
ment and public appreciation, and hope that the time is not 
near when William Cullen Bryant shall cease to sharpen his 



THE BRYANT VASE. 6 1 

youthful quill in rebuke of the follies of false statecraft, or shall 
forget the cunning which has taught him to paint the grace of 
running brooks and the majesty of forest trees. 

May the October of his life be that which he has himself 
described : 

"Wind of the sunny South ! oh. still delay 
In the gay woods and in the golden air, 
Like to a good old age released from care, 

Journeying, in long serenity, away. 

In such a bright, late quiet would that I 

Might wear out life like thee, "mid bowers and brooks, 
And, dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks 

And music of kind voices ever nigh ! 

And, when my last sand twinkled in the glass. 

Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass." 

[Troy Times, November 3.] 

This is the eightieth birthday of the venerable poet and 
editor, William Cullen Bryant. We are glad to hear that his 
friends are to commemorate the event by the presentation of a 
valuable and artistically designed vase. Few men have lived 
so long as ]\Ir. Bryant with equal blamelessness and honor. 
We are glad to know that he is still hale and hearty, and 
promises to remain with us for some time to come. 

[Rochester Express, November 3.] 

William Cullen Bryant, the venerable and distinguished poet, 
becomes an octogenarian to-day. Mr. Bryant is one of the 
purest and noblest of Americans. Achieving fame, while still 
a young man, by that poem of solemn beauty, "Thanatopsis," 
he has, during a long life, stood before the world exemplifying 
in his character and his works the truest qualities of manhood 



62 THE BRYANT VASE. 

and genius. During the formative period of our literary history 
he gave to his countrymen an example of thought and style 
which, by its purity and elegance, first afforded a rebuking 
contrast to the buncombe and spread-eagleism of our early 
writings, and then, with the writings of Washington Irving and 
others of his class, steadily and surely permeated American 
thought, and won admirers and imitators among our aspirants 
for literary fame, until a higher and truer school of authorship 
was created. Bryant does not rank among the greatest writers, 
but few excel him in purity of thought and expression. For 
him the world of thoughtful readers entertain a sincere affec- 
tion, and though his works that will go far into the future are 
few, yet there are passages and even entire poems that have the 
gift and destiny of immortal fame. 

Long as the poet has been among us, yet hale and vigorous 
he enters upon the ninth decade of life, and from two conti- 
nents will pour in upon him congratulations for his lengthened 
life, and sincere wishes that it may be prolonged until he and 
his friends may celebrate his centennial. 

[Boston Transcript^ November 3.] 

William Cullen Bryant, poet, patriot, editor, man of letters ; 
the American citizen, whom all American citizens honor for 
his blameless private and his fruitful public life ; still in the 
possession of unabated natural and acquired mental and moral 
forces ; still active in a venerableness that surpasses the beauty 
of youth and manhood, to the eyes of troops of loving and 
revering friends, to-day becomes an octogenarian. It is an 
occasion that will be gratefully seized upon to extend to him 
warm and rich testimonials of regard, expressed in words of 
affectionate respect and in significant and artistic symbolic 
gifts. 

Independent, upright, a lover of truth and beauty, of charac- 



THE BRYANT VASE. 63 

ter unstained, gradually closing a long career whose evening 
has gathered up and preserved not a little of the fair light and 
brilliancy of its midday— he merits indeed an anniversary to be 
rendered truly golden, in his native and in other lands, by 
esteem for a manifold greatness, of unquestioned integrity, free 
from all low ambitions, full to overflowing with usefulness to 
his times and humanity, by the prolonged manifestations of 
genius consecrated to high aims, and the work of talents and 
learning devoted to the advancement of whatever contributes to 
the genuine nobility, the sterling virtues, and the refined adorn- 
ments to true living ; a vigorous and almost saintly patriarch, 
whose silver locks need no crown of gold and jewels to make 
him a king among his fellows, by reason of the divinity of his 
unwearied and multiform faithfulness. 

[Boston Advertiser, November 3.] 

TO BRYANT AT FOURSCORE. 

Born November 3, 1794. 

Psalm xc. 10. 

Poet, whose voice is of the winds and woods, 
Whose calm verse flows as does the mountain rill, 
Rippling and murmuring through the shade and sheen, 
And o'er the cool, clean stone ; 
Poet, whose voice is of the ocean floods. 
When thou dost hear, along the wooded hill, 
The footsteps of the Lord, and thou may'st lean 

To listen, stilled, alone — 
Nature's Interpreter — the wind, the stream, the tree, 
The human soul, all find a friend in thee. 

Thine is the music of the fountain's flow, 
Or Autumn's wind, fresh in the fading tree : 
Men quicken at thy word ; they feel thee nigh — 
One dear to childhood's day. 
Thou art a stream born of the mountain snow. 



64 THE BRYANT VASE. 

Which sought, unsoiled, the city b)' the sea, 
Winding wlicrc fair things fail and pure things die ; 

And springing, white with spray, 
A fountain where, despite the multitudinous tread, 
Faith is refreshed and faint hearts comforted. 

Bryant ! thy word is best when thou dost write 
Of life, of hopes, of human destiny — 
Of the grave joy which keeps the heart content — 
Of Nature's constant calm ! 
Comforter, thou dost show the Infinite ! 
Thou dost unseal the fount when eyes are dry 
And hearts are breaking I Thy wise words are blent 

With weeping ; and a Psalm 
Of Life goes up, and not unheard : while thou dost sing, 
Hearts grateful, though unseen, shall listen lingering. 

So shall men listen when all these are gone : 
Still shalt thou sing when the invisible vail 
Hath wrapped thee from man's vision. Lightly lie 
On thee thy years fourscore ! 
In. thine eternal youth thou shalt sing on ; 
Thy strain, a voice of Nature, shall not fail ; 
And thee labor and sorrow come not nigh ! 

But when the silent oar 
Of Charon stirs, not too late or soon, that voiceless sea, 
Wake to thy twofold immortality. 

H. C. B. 



irAp'lO 



